WELCOME
to The Color Wheel
Iām Garris: a South Carolina songwriter who went from Nashville to a kindergarten music room in China, stepped away from music more than once, and came back because I had to.The Color Wheel brings my songs, stories, and art togetherāand makes room for the people who find their way here. Thanks for popping in for a welcome basket. Enjoy!
ā¬ļø choose your welcome basket ā¬ļø
last updated Oct. 5
FOLKY šŖ BASKET
LORE š® BASKET
ANGRY š” BASKET
Folky: more warm alt-country, Americana type stuff.
Lore: the most important night of my life.
Angry: rawr. no more indoor voice.
One basket has a secret tucked insideā¦
ā¦youāre welcome to rummage
Ā© Garris & The Color Wheel. All rights reserved.
You chose the
folky basket
Your gifts are
below
ā¬ļø
Unreleased Song:
āGood Enoughā (demo)
If you have someone who loved you and left you,
and youād like to feel good about that for once, then this song is for you.I wrote it after a run of angry songs (one of āem in the angry basket, FYI)
bc I got tired of being mad - and singing about it all the time, ugh.So I quit grinding my axe, wrote this, took a few deep breaths, and let it go.Thanks for listening.
Zine Page
Tinaās Story
Your Guest card in
The color wheel rolodex
You found your way here very early.Iād like to remember that.
With about 30 active listeners and maybe five fans in my DMs, youāre so early that Iām actually keeping records. Your Color Wheel Guest Card has your preferred name and a permanent guest number: you get the digital copy; its handwritten twin lives in my office Rolodex.
(If you came after the millennials and donāt know what that is, imagine a contacts app but all written on paper)Guests get occasional previews, discounts and exclusive offers, a say in what I make next, and three extra entries in my annual Christmas draw for a song written and recorded just for the winner.Reply in our original DM with your preferred name and, optionally, an email for updatesāor weāll stick to DMs. Iāll make your card when time allows. Your number stays yours: no fees, no attendance requirements. Just love and respect for showing up before I looked remotely established.
Your Cover letter
Iām applying to be your
next favorite artist š¤
Dear neighbor,Please accept this basket as my application to become your next favorite artist. Iām also willing to start at āthat guy with the basket and the cool hatā and work my way up.My qualifications include 23 years of songwriting, a completely non-algorithm friendly slew of genres, and being extremely good with kids. Iām not sure if I mentioned Iām a Father of 2 and a kindergarten teacher, but, thatās a thing.The Color Wheel is more than music. Itās a space where my songs can live alongside their stories, where oddball drawings can live next to PowerPoints, old versions of my self and ridiculous childrenās songs. The Color Wheel is a place where a growing list of strange little ideas can come to life, and hopefully bring people to life in the process. Iām building it around a full-time job and family life, usually with more enthusiasm than available hours.I care about this work. Putting it in front of someone new is excitingā¦but also occasionally makes me want to retrieve the basket and pretend I was never here.But Iād rather give it a chance to mean something to somebody besides me. A chance to mean something to you.If something here stays with you, Iād love you to stick around.And if youād like to help this grow, hereās one small thing: send a song of mine to one person you genuinely think would enjoy it. Just one. Iām not asking for a regional distribution office. Just a little smidgeon of help.I do all of this independently, so every personal introduction from a fan to someone they know means a lot. If someone came to mind while you were listening, thatās a good place to start.Thanks for giving my world some of your time, and now, a tiny piece of it belongs to you, too.Warmly,
Garris
Artist. Also all the other jobs.
The exit
unless you plan to stay?
Youāve reached the bottom of the basket. Thanks again for being here.If you have a minute, wander into the wider Color Wheel via the site, or try another basket if youāre feeling greedy. I wonāt judge. And if youād like future things to find you, you can leave your email below.Youāre also welcome to simply enjoy the gifts. That counts.
You chose the
lore basket
Your gifts are
below
ā¬ļø
Unreleased Song:
āNothing Like This Love (demo)ā
I met my wife on New Yearās Eve. I view that night as one of the most important nights of my life now. Back then? I was just drunk with my friends stumbling through the streets of China.This song - well itās more of a demo actually - is how that night unfolded and what our love became as we went through the motions of becoming a happily married couple living an international life raising third culture kids as semi-accidental immigrants in China.Thanks for listening.
Zine Page
Carlās Story
Your Guest card in
The color wheel rolodex
You found your way here very early.Iād like to remember that.
With about 30 active listeners and maybe five fans, youāre so early that Iām actually keeping records. Your Color Wheel Guest Card has your preferred name and a permanent guest number: you get the digital copy; its handwritten twin lives in my office Rolodex.
(If you came after the millennials and donāt know what that is, imagine a contacts app but all written on paper)Guests get occasional previews, discounts and exclusive offers, a say in what I make next, and three extra entries in my annual Christmas draw for a song written and recorded just for the winner.Reply in our original DM with your preferred name and, optionally, an email for updatesāor weāll stick to DMs. Iāll make your card when time allows. Your number stays yours: no fees, no attendance requirements. Just love and respect for showing up before I looked remotely established.
Your Cover letter
Iām applying to be your
next favorite artist š¤
Dear Neighbor,You chose the Lore Basket. Welcome to the part where I attempt to explain why one man needs this many songs. By this many I mean over 2,000. Yikes.The Color Wheel is the handmade soundtrack to my life. Thereās a sourcebook at its heart: a growing collection of stories, poems, drawings, journals, photos, memories, and connections between them. The music gives those pages a voice. Well, many voices. The loud one. The tender one. The cute one. The sexy one. The shitty one.If you hang around, youāll hear them all. I decided recently to integrate all these quirky pieces of me into this single project. Thatās why itās called The Color Wheel.Iāve written more than 2,000 songs over 23 years. You are not expected to listen to all of them. I have children. I understand the value of an achievable task.But somewhere in all that writing, I began to recognize a calling: to bring the different pieces of my life into conversation through the arts. Music, words, and images help me understand what Iāve livedāand make room for parts of myself I havenāt always known how to hold together.Thatās what I mean by integration. The angry songwriter, the father, the kindergarten teacher, the person who left home, the person who keeps looking for it. They all belong to this life. Iām learning how to let them share the room.The theme running through all of it is becoming. Old versions of me are still here, alongside people I love, things Iāve lost, mistakes ive made and things Iām only beginning to understand. My grandfatherās yellow plane is here because he mattered. These details have lives behind them, because my lore is from my real life, just like yours. Thereās no fantasy here.Iām making this by myself, around a full-time job and family life, with more sincerity than spare hours. Inviting you into it feels exciting. It also feels a little like handing over my journal and saying, āPlease appreciate the drawings before forming an opinion.āBut I believe this work can mean something beyond the person who made it. Maybe a piece of my story helps you recognize something in yours. Maybe watching me accept all my colors will give you permission to look at the ones youāve kept in the basement since that one day whenā¦well, you know.If it does help, and this letter has succeeded in somehow creating a tiny flame of fandom in you, Iād like you to stick around. And if youād like to help this grow, send a song of mine to one person you genuinely think would enjoy it. No lore required. āThis made me think of youā is plenty.Thanks for spending some time in my world. A tiny piece of it belongs to you now, too.Warmly,
Garris
Artist. Also the guy who compiled a book of over 23 years of writing by himself for four months straight.
The exit
unless you plan to stay?
Youāve reached the bottom of the basket. Thanks again for being here.If you have a minute, wander into the wider Color Wheel via the site, or try another basket if youāre feeling greedy. I wonāt judge. And if youād like future things to find you, you can leave your email below.Youāre also welcome to simply enjoy the gifts. That counts.
You chose the fuckinā
angry basket
Your gifts are
below, damnit
ā¬ļø
Unreleased Song:
āBirminghamā
Once upon a time, someone cheated on someone.The response was very loud and generally upset.Listen and fuck off.but also thank you
Zine Page
Bettieās Story
Your Guest card in
The color wheel rolodex
You found your way here very early.Iād like to remember that.
With about 30 active listeners and maybe five fans, youāre so early that Iām actually keeping records. Your Color Wheel Guest Card has your preferred name and a permanent guest number: you get the digital copy; its handwritten twin lives in my office Rolodex.
(If you came after the millennials and donāt know what that is, imagine a contacts app but all written on paper)Guests get occasional previews, discounts and exclusive offers, a say in what I make next, and three extra entries in my annual Christmas draw for a song written and recorded just for the winner.Reply in our original DM with your preferred name and, optionally, an email for updatesāor weāll stick to DMs. Iāll make your card when time allows. Your number stays yours: no fees, no attendance requirements. Just love and respect for showing up before I looked remotely established.
Your Cover letter
Iām applying to be your
next favorite artist š¤
Dear Neighbor,Please accept this f*%#ing angry basket as my application to become your next favorite artist. Or at least the one you put on when the darkness begins to sizzle and you need to scream.My qualifications include 23 years of songwriting, several genres that refuse to cooperate, and being extremely good with stereo electric guitars that sound like a boxing glove to the face of that person you hate most. Iām also a father of two and a kindergarten teacher who regulates high octane 4 year olds who canāt put their anger on Spotify like me. I do have an indoor voice. Youāve chosen not to hear it.These heavier indie rock songs belong to the louder side of my world. Sometimes I can sit with a feeling and write something tender. Sometimes the feeling needs a distortion pedal and an unsupervised opportunity to break a microphone.I donāt want to live angry forever. But I do want to make room for the parts of being human that donāt arrive politely or resolve themselves by the final chorus. Maybe youāve got a few of those yourself.The Color Wheel gives those songs somewhere to live alongside their stories, poems, drawings, quieter thoughts, and even my ridiculous childrenās songs. Yes, itās all the same guy. The hat is doing considerable administrative work.Iām building this independently, around a full-time job and family life. Putting it out here is excitingāand occasionally makes me want to unplug everything before anyone notices how much I meant it.But Iād rather give it a chance to mean something to you. Art is for everybody, not just the artists.If it does mean something, stick around. And if youād like to help it grow, send a song of mine to one person who would genuinely enjoy it. Just one. Someone who needs louder guitars, perhaps. If someone with a messy relationship comes to mind, thatās what this song was about.Every personal introduction means a lot when an artist like me is doing all the jobs alone.Thanks for spending some time in this corner of my world. A tiny piece of it belongs to you now, too.Angrily,
Garris
Artist. Also responsible for the noise complaint.
The exit
unless you plan to stay?
Youāve reached the bottom of the basket. Thanks again for being here.If you have a minute, wander into the wider Color Wheel via the site, or try another basket if youāre feeling greedy. I wonāt judge. And if youād like future things to find you, you can leave your email below.Youāre also welcome to simply enjoy the gifts. That counts.